Currently, the Office of the Attorney General is responsible for training all law enforcement officers in the handling and investigation of domestic violence reports. Law enforcement officers are required to attend an initial training within 90 days of appointment or transfer. In addition, the officers are required to attend an annual in-service training of at least four hours. In 2012, the Office of the Attorney General established an online domestic violence training program for law enforcement officers. The new online training program is intended to be used as a "stand-alone" program by officers to meet their annual in-service training requirement or to be used in conjunction with other forms of training. This bill would insure that law enforcement officers are periodically required to attend in-person, instructor-led training. Under the bill, every three years the statutorily required in-service training could be satisfied through in-person instructor-led training. In addition, the bill would require training for assistant county prosecutors involved in the handling of domestic violence cases. The training would be consistent with the training requirement for judges and judicial personnel. Initial training would be within 90 days of appointment or transfer and the prosecutors would attend an annual in-service training of at least four hours. This bill embodies recommendations 13 and 14 of the Report of the Supreme Court Ad Hoc Committee on Domestic Violence issued June 2016.

Bill Subjects:

Judiciary, 2nd Reading in the Assembly, Law and Public Safety, Passed Assembly